Lilian Jackson Braun: The Cat Who... series
A few years ago, the Mystery Guild Book Club polled members with the question "Which mystery writer would you rather be stranded on a desert island with?" The winner: Lillian Jackson Braun. The book club didn't ask why readers voted for her, but anyone who has read Ms. Braun's novels knows why.
With the exception of the first three novels, which set the stage for the series, each novel is a vacation for the reader to a quirky, arts-loving, small town where the most important edifice is the library. Each novel in the series is a murder mystery, but the violence is off-screen, and the murder presents itself early in the story as a problem to be solved. While solving the murder, the protagonist and the reader learn something about the arts such as painting, ceramics or spinning and weaving, along with drama, history, literature and geography.
As far as I can count, Lillian Jackson Braun has written twenty eight novels in The Cat Who... series starting with The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, published in 1966, and continuing through The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, published in 2007.
The series starts with the story of Jim Qwilleran, an unemployed journalist who had once been great but whose alcoholism and divorce had derailed his career. Now alone and on the wagon, he hopes to get any job he can, just to pay the rent. Mortified by the fact that he is forced to accept an insignificant column in the features section, he accepts, and in his research he ends up solving a murder. He adopts the victim's now homeless cat, Koko, who proves to be the most intelligent and entertaining, if not the most well-behaved cat in literature.
The series gets interesting when Jim suddenly finds himself heir to one of the largest fortunes in America, providing that he move to the town of Pickax described as "400 miles north of everywhere." For Qwilleran, moving to Pickax isn't near as much of a problem as figuring out what to do with all that money.
The Girlebooks reading list recommends this series for the sheer fun of reading. The beauty of this series is that when you get that lost feeling after reading a really good book you can always pick up the next one.
>>> Join the discussion in the new Lilian Jackson Braun fan forum!
My sister and I are about to read through the series again. (I know of a lady who has read them six times). We decided to end the series at "Dropped a Bombshell" as we felt the book after that, which we discarded, was out of character and we felt lost and disappointed. What better way to end when she wrote in the Bombshell book, "When your dish is full of cream don't expect more." And then she wrote a postscript. What a perfect ending, so that we can go on in our minds to want to be living in Pickaxe attending all the gatherings. We love Lillian Jackson Braun.
Please forgive me for misspelling Pickax.. How could I?
Oh, we all misspell a name now and then. Just don't misspell "Qwill" or "Koko"! Welcome, Connie!
I used to work with someone named Connie Magee. At a school. But she moved last year.
Praline, Well, this is amazing....May not be how you do it, but I had to say I worked at a school for 28 yrs.....
Funny, huh.
Geez, you may be my Connie. I like to stay incognito, but this is quite a coincidence. Did you perhaps drive a .......convertible? And you moved in the middle of the year? Whoooo knew you loved "Cat Who" too?
Praline, wouldn't that have been fun....but I'm not that Connie. I live in the mountains and drive a 4-wheel drive for all our snow. Phooey. Con
Qwill decided, the next morning to drive up to the lake house and see what was going on in regards to a dead body in a santa suite. He yelled treat, and when yumyum bounded down he let her eat a bit and then put her in the wicker hamper that served as the cat carrier. Koko yeowwwed an ear splitting yeow and hopped in the carrier on his own, arranging himself beside yumyum who was in her "dead-cat" pose in the basket.
They enjoyed the ride to the lake in silence until they turned onto the lake road. When the siamese smelled the lake they let out several yowwwwws and nowwwwwws. Qwill took a deep breath as well, enjoying the fresh country air.
As he turned into the driveway, just past the large "K" nailed to a post, he saw ruts and fresh tire tracks. He drove over the crest and the cabin and lake came into view.
Happy New Year posters! 2012. I will start the new year by sharing websites I like with you:
P.AllenSmith's Garden Home
Ree Drummond Pioneer Woman
PinInterest
Little Illuminations
Create TV
I have not had time to post here since the new year. We are busy at my house with recovering from accidents and illnesses. My husband had a hip replacement in Dec and even though he has had six weeks to heal, recovery is slow and painful. I have had another cancer pop up and am back in treatment. We are a "sorry" lot right now and being sick while caring for a sick husband is not in my top ten list of fun things to do!
I have enjoyed reading posts and fan fiction. I wish everyone a happy new year and a good year. I can just imagine if Qwill has to have a knee replacement on that "bad kneee" of his what a bear he would be during recovery. I don't know who would be available to take care of him the way I do my bear of a husband, lol. Anne
Anne, and Joyce
I have aready replied to your comment, but have not noticed it in the recent comments. given the way things have been around here with electrical storms etc, I wonder if you could let me know where the glitch could possibly be, Joyce?
Anyway, lots of greetings to Anne and lots of get better. Please let us know how you are going.
Kindest of Regards,
Diana
Bless your heart, Anne. And after being such an inspiration to us with your listening to Cat Who...tapes during chemo and your general upbeat attitude. My prayers go out to you and your bear of a husband. Hope he follows your example and takes as good care of you. Thanks for remembering us and coming back to let us know how it's going.
Joyce, have you seen the two Lilian Jackson Braun sites on facebook. One is The Cat Who and the other one has the cutest name: People Who Want to LIve in Moose County.
My sister and I have thought of that often to live in Moose County. YES! And attend all the fun community events. Thank you for sharing that item.
Anne, thanks for the Heads-up. I "like" the first and joined the second. It will be fun to see what they have to say.
I listened to "Cheese" today, I am on tape two. They are getting ready to have the auction to raise money for the great food explo. The old Pickax Hotel has blown up and Polly is recovering from her heart attack.. Qwill has just agreed to be a bachelor in the auction. We find out in this book that Elaine Feder stole Iris Cobb's cookbook and Qwill devises a plan to get it back. He buys a book from Eddignton Smith and has to bury it because it was so stinky. Qwill meets Aubrey Scotten who has premature white hair and is a gentle giant. This book it so full of interesitng side stories and funny adventures. It is a great little read or listen. Priceless.
I have listened to the first two tapes of the Book: The Cat Who Ate Cheese" and it is a great little book. I am only a third of the way in and already we have met Aubrey Scotten, a gentle giant who raises bees and has premature white hair, Ellen Fedder who we learn stole Iris Cobb's cookbook, the hotel has been bombed and we met Oonosh who is mysterious. We learn Qwill will participate in a Bachelor Auction for charity at the Great Food Explo. He buys a used cheese book from Eddington Smith and it stinks so bad he has to bury it............twice, when animals dig it up. This little book is a great read or listen it is so full of humor and adventure.
Sorry for the double post, I thought the first one did not go through! oops
Glad you said it was a double post. I noticed the two were slightly different and thought that either:
a) you were talking about the tape in one and the book in the other
or
b) my memory is not what is used to be and I am experiencing a case of deja vu.
In any case, I'm glad you are back to absorbing LJB. Life has been so demanding lately that we haven't heard much from the members. My fault: I haven't posted a review in a long time. I'll have to put that on my "to do" list. I'll look forward to that. I'll be able to read the book on my new Kindle Fire.
Connie asks where to get the books on tape or CD. I bought mine at a used book store, although you could get them at a regular book store as well (more expensive, however.)
Diana, I got your message about your comments not appearing. It is strange, because I see the comment on the Administrator tools and it is approved (Laura usually beats me to the draw) so I can't imagine why the comments are not appearing. I don't see your comment here, so I'm as much in the dark as you. Laura and I will be keeping an eye out. In the meantime, keep commenting. Laura and I see it, even if it doesn't appear.
The following is the comment from Diana that is missing in action. [Sometimes it depends on where you click the "reply" button (at the bottom or after a specific comment) but I don't see your comment there either.]
Anne, and Joyce
I have aready replied to your comment, but have not noticed it in the recent comments. given the way things have been around here with electrical storms etc, I wonder if you could let me know where the glitch could possibly be, Joyce?
Anyway, lots of greetings to Anne and lots of get better. Please let us know how you are going.
Kindest of Regards,
Diana
Well, now Diana's comment appears further up the page under Anne's comment. I promise it wasn't there a minute ago.
Just checking in with my "Cat Who" friends. We had a very warm January in the south this year. Temps in the high sixties some days. Now, the second week in Feb. we are finally feeling like winter, with temps going down to 19 degrees tonight. Maybe the "Big One" is coming. I hear snow flew as far south as TN yesterday. But here, 400 miles south of anywhere, we have seen snow only twice in the last 6 years. The old timers watch the wooly caterpillars but in vain.
One of my friends from the "400 miles north" territory called 19 degrees "shirtsleeve weather." Here 400 miles southwest of everywhere, we're getting sleet and temperatures cold enough to freeze the birdbaths until I got outside with a hose and refreshed them. After frying last summer and getting repetitive stress injuries watering during the worst drought ever in San Antonio, TX, I'm not complaining too loudly about the cold, and even less about precipitation, although I'm sad that my bougainvilleas, pomegranites and lantanas that had started to bud out will get shocked to their roots by the cold and sleet and get set back a few weeks. It's also Murphy's law that I planted my lettuce, onions and garlic yesterday.
Joyce, and Everyone 400 miles north of everywhere
Where are you, is there anyone out there? I hope you haven't been avalanched, blizzarded, or otherwise been stricken by mother nature. I simply haven't heard from anyone, so I thought I might give it a go and see who crops up. Anne, I wish you all the best with your chemo and just let us know how you are doing.
Many greetings from Down Under, Diana
Joyce, I'm having trouble with the site. It keeps wanting a security question
Hello to you Down Under, from someone 400 miles south of just about every where, in South Texas! Diana, are you still having difficulties with the site? Every once in a while there is a blip which causes some odd things to happen. Since your message got through, I have to believe that the issue was fixed. Laura reads these comments, too, and she more with it in that department than I am, so La, what's up?
As to where everyone is, I've been in the garden getting everything done before the raging heat gets us, usually by early May. Our cabin fever season is May through October, since you'll have a heat stroke here if you work outside after 10 AM. Last year, it cooled off to about 90 at night, still not enough to get any gardening accomplished.
Many of our constituents are teachers, so I suspect that by Mid-June we'll hear from some of our dear readers. Maybe this is a reminder to me that another "Cat Who" book review is due. I had planned to do all of them. What a delight to have another "Cat Who" assignment.
Diana, I'm a dedicated (OK, rabid) fan of the San Antonio Spurs basketball team. We have a fantastic new backup point guard, an Australian named Patrick Mills (Pattie to the announcers). We thank the Aussie National team for sharing him with us!
Hello everyone--in reply to Diana's comment, we've been having trouble with comment spam on this site so we've instituted a "security question" when submitting comments. It's a simple math question right before the submit button, just to prove you're human and not an automated spam bot. Sorry for the inconvenience, but the spam was getting out of control!
Greetings Laura and Joyce,
Thank you so very much for your quick replies. I became concerned when I saw there were no more comments on my server after Feb 12!!! Not the norm for us LJB'ers.
We, also, have had more than the usual spam and phishing as well. I had to upgrade my security system just to keep up with people who think it's great fun to send rubbish to us. Even the high and mighty PayPal has had to be reported. All of our banks here in Australia have their own departments devoted to hacking, etc. Ugh.
In response to Joyce, we have had the coldest summer on record!!! I have hardly watered the garden and our heating system, which is set on 22C, has kicked in 3X - in the middle of summer!!!!!!!!! We now have the first snowfall on record in the Victorian Alps (Falls Creek, Snowy Mountains, etc) for early April. I'm hoping, for your sakes, that the summer will be a bit cooler for you this year. You certainly deserve it after last year's rampage.
Now, to LJB. Joyce, are you reviewing from the beginning? If so, I'll be reading right along with you. Are you also including the short stories in 14 Tales? Let me know and we'll keep in touch. I predict lots of evening reads to my Cocker Spaniel, and you to your kitties, in front of a glowing fireplace for us and a cooling breeze for you.
Should you hear from Anne, please send her my regards and all the best for her chemo.
Oh, and Joyce, go the Spurs! How can you not do well with an Aussie on board, not that I'm biased or anything.........
Much love, woofs and meows to all my LJB friends,
Diana
Hello again, Diana! Your comments got me going, and I immediately looked into my list of "Cat Who..." books and determined that I read "Turned on and Off" but never reported on it. I had been working backwards, then forward, through the series, but it seems some of the older ones are the best, so I decided to pick up where I left off. "The Cat Who Turned on and Off" will be the next review. I'm glad I chose it, because it could be one of the best in the series. My cats must like it, too, because Laura's cat, Annie, (mostly lavender point Siamese) sat on my lap while I read yesterday, and my cat, Daisy (petite marmalade tabby) kept me company this morning.
I love going back and reading about Qwill's life down below, when he was a penniless reporter who still fed his cats canned crab and pot roast, and spent a lot of time looking for a place to live. Reading this one will be fun.
Forgot to mention that as I write this, my cat, Friday, (luxuriant black) is sitting on my desk.
I have a cat question. My little tuxedo black and white girl is ten and she suffers from fleas each summer. Last summer the vet gave her a flea bath and then a "expell the fleas pill" and I think it was to much for her and made her very sick and she lost weight. I don't want this to happen this year to her. What do some of the other cat lovers do about fleas?
I love Tuxedo kitties! They are so appealing! For my cats, I use a product called "Revolution" that also includes control for ear mites, tape worms and heart worms, the last being the most important of the protections. Vets do use a product called "Capstar" to get rid of fleas on already infested cats when they come into the office.
When a cat gets to be over ten, one of the issues they face is that they can't digest their food as well as they used to. Weight loss can often result, and if they were formerly plump, they can run into fatty liver disease, which is often fatal. That is how I lost my Grendel at 14. Now I feed my "old ladies" (Annie, 16, and Electra, 13) twice a day with a canned senior cat food from Science Diet. I only give them a smidgeon (about a fourth of a small can each), but it helped Electra, who was beginning to lose weight, and Annie, who had appetite problems for a while.
I have heard that old cats are also sensitive to vaccinations. There is much controversy about this, but you might ask your vet's opinion. Some vaccinations are decreed by law, but others may be optional and might be left off for old cats, especially if they are completely indoor cats. Some vets are also giving some vaccinations only every three years for older cats. It's worth discussing.
I might also mention a prescription food called "Hill's Prescription A/D" for "Appetite Diet" that is highly nutritious and caloric. It must really taste good, because the cats gobble it up when they can get it. I keep some on hand for emergencies, or whenever I need to fatten up one of my cats. It is only available through your vet.
FYI, the new vet said that the flea bath was probably what made her so sick last year. He said most vets will no longer flea dip or bath cats. It is now frowned upon as "not best practices" for cats. He treated her with drops on the back and said to bring her back in a month. She seems much less "full of fleas" since this treatment. I will watch her closely.
The product that the Vet used is probably Capstar or something similar. It knocks out fleas immediately, and makes it safe for the cat to come into the office without infesting all the other animals. Capstar is just a "drops on the back" product. My vet usually uses that product alone, although when I brought Friday in after finding him on the street and crawling with fleas, he did use the flea bath. For maintenance, I use a product called "Revolution" which prevents ear mites, fleas, ticks, heartworms and tape worms. Since it prevents heart worms, it will make your cat live a lot longer. I had a sweet Siamese cat, Katie, who came to me from a friend. I had the friend test her for Leukemia and AIDS, but failed to ask her to get Katie tested for heart worms. One day at feeding time, she just keeled over and died. The vet said she had heartworms. After that, I became a firm believer in heartworm medication, regardless of the cost.
By the way, you may have noticed that the top of the page doesn't have a link to the fan forum. Look just below the review on this page for the link. The forum was down for awhile because of a Spam attack, but is now back up for your reading and writing pleasure.
In the months to come, we may be moving the forum to another of our sites, which will probably not be an issue for you, since we will have a link here for you to get there. It may look a little different, however.
Joyce thanks for the reply about my cat question. I think one thing I will do is change vets. I have not been pleased for some time with the one I use for my little girl. I read with much delight that you are reading the older books in the LJB series. They remain my favorites and I reread or listen to them on audio at least once a year, sometimes more. The Cat Who Turned On and Off is a great little book so full of irony, sarcasm, humor, wacky characters and great setting. I would love to be poking around an old area of town and stumble on a shop called the Three Wierd Sisters!!! We aslo get to meet our beloved Iris Cobb for the first time! What fun! I recently reread Shakespere and it is written in the same way the older books are, even though he has his money in this book. It is priceless. I hope everyone has a blessed week, Praline
I had forgotten how entertaining "Turned on and Off" was. The writing is superb, both in language and story line. It took me two days to read this novel, because I just couldn't put it down. It's nice to go back and read Qwill's early history because it shows us clearly the type of person he is. When you get to "Saw Red" you see that he would give the shirt off his back, or anyway, 3/4 of his bank account, to help a friend in need. And the rest goes to the cats' gourmet diet.
Praline, I think changing vets is a good idea, if you are not comfortable discussing your issues with your vet. I changed vets twice before I found one I felt I could trust. My husband calls him Doctor Rich, but I am willing to pay more to keep my darlings healthy.
I have been away but today was able to read most of the mail. I am still wondering if there will be one more "Cat Who" books to undo the nightmare Quill had about loosing everything.
Thank you,
Darlene
Darlene, you won't get any disagreement here. Since Ms. Braun has passed to her heavenly reward, we can only hope that her estate has made arrangements for someone else to pick up the thread of her stories. Until then, if you haven't seen the forum here, with our versions of the new Qwill stories, check out the link just below the review on this page.
I am listening to "Danish Modern". I rarely reread or relisten to this book. I have never given it much credence. But upon this listen I found sarcasm, humor and small tidbits I have never noticed before. I am having alot of fun listening to it. The irony that Qwill went from living in the Villa Veranda, an ultra swanky apartment building to the next book, "On and Off" where he lived with a hodgepodge of old antiques in a boarding house is priceless. The humor of each edition of "Graceful Abodes" his new decorating supplement for the Fluxion being sabatoged is so funny. The suspense builds, what could go wrong with it next!!! I am loving the Mrs. Middey steering him to what turns out to be a house of ill repute!! Why did I ever count this little book out??
Hi, Praline. I agree. One of the beauties of reading early "Cat Who..." is the contrast between abodes, the strange assignments that Qwill receives, and generally austere lifestyle he has to live on his less than adequate salary. I'll be reporting on "The Cat Who Played Brahms", which may be the most important novel in the series, this being the one where he inherits Aunt Fanny's fortune and decides to move to Pickax. It, like its predecessor, was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Original Paperback. The detail, the humor, and the rich style LJB incorporates in this novel make it one of the best in the series.
Yes, Joyce, and I eagerly await your report. Will it be here in this forum? It is an important book in the series.
My review will be published on this site, as far as I know. I think I mentioned that Laura and I discussed making the LJB part of this site more independent, and there may be a new location, although you don't need to worry because there will be plenty of links to guide you to the new site. I will probably be more involved in the maintenance of the site, taking over that task from Laura, who is really taxed to keep up with all her clients now! I look forward to the change, because I do this purely for enjoyment, especially keeping contact with my cat-loving friends.
Hey LJB readers! Long time no see! Life gets busy and I do so much work on my laptop, I rarely use it for fun these days. Good to see most of us are well and enjoying our kitties. Funny story about my teenager's cat. The cat loves the kids so much but will have anything to do with me. She barely tolerates me even though I am the one who feeds her and waters her. She needed a maintenance trip to the vet so I cleaned up the cat carrier to her expectations, put in a new towel for softness as she likes, and left it on the kitchen island overnight The next morning I dreaded trying to get her in the carrier without a fuss (a la yumyum style). Much to my surprise when I walked into the kitchen she was IN THE CARRIER all by herself. Go figure cats! Anne I hope you are doing well with your illness, take care, Karen.
Sounds like you did a good job of making the carrier up the way she likes it. I once read somewhere that cats don't like change. They don't like the furniture being moved around; they don't like new items introduced into their environment; they especially don't like new foods or new litter. I have raised 14 cats now and I insist this is patently untrue. My cats, who range in age from 18 months to 16 years, LOVE change. New food, new cat litter, bring it on. New furniture, new arrangements--what fun to explore. And if a new box shows up they will do everything in their power to get inside. I leave their carriers all over the house, and they don't have much to do with them, unless one carrier is moved to a new location. Then one cat will show up inside it, and the others will be waiting in line for their turn.
Inspired by my kid's cat:
Arch Riker was the last person Jim Qwilleran thought would ever ask him for advice about cats. Jim Qwilleran, the richest man in the Northern part of the United States, was quite shocked, when his old friend Arch, did just that. Qwilleran, known as "Qwill" to his friends was riding a recumbent bike on a back road of Moose County one day when a car came up from behind him and the driver began blowing the horn. Startled, Qwill's bike wobbled and almost
....for more go to the fan fiction forum page......
Don't miss this story. Karen is doing an excellent job.
http://girlebooks.com/forum/lilian-jackson-braun-fan-forum/my-cat-inspired-me/#p1029
Cute little you tube video a cat who lover made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjn_lIBMkEc
Thanks, Praline. This is a video book trailer for "The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell." It's kind of cute, but I never imagined that Qwill was the type put a rhinestone collar on Koko. Maybe I missed something.
But it was cute Joyce, to see a variety of people who are so different with their own ideas who share a common love for these little books and for koko and yumyum and express themselves in different ways. It seems someone went to alot of work to put that little film together. It seemed to me it was a young person, maybe?
I really wish we could have more books. I would love for LJB's estate to hire a ghost writer to continue the series. Wasn't that done for the Nancy Drew series?
I wonder what LJB would write about concerning: Occupy Wallstreet or all the reality tv shows, or other current trends in our society. lololol @ the thought of Occupy Pickax....I think the pioneers of Pickax already did that when they protested and picketed outside of the Post Office when the murals were crumbling and falling apart. What book was that? I will have to research. Also, protests and pickets in front of the library the time the card catalog went computerized!! Remember that? lololol LJB was ahead of her time!
Nancy Drew certainly brings back memories. My sister's friend introduced us to "Secret of the Old Clock" probably about 50 years ago, and we methodically read our way through every book that was available in the set. We used to save our allowances and go to Dibble's toy store to buy the next installment.
Nancy Drew was actually created by Edward Stratemeyer, dime novelist and the creator of the Bobbsey Twins and the Hardy Boys. While he created the character, it was Mildred Wirt Benson that wrote the first books. His daughter, Harriett Stratemeyer Adams, took over the company when he died and they continued to produce Nancy Drew Books. It was Ms. Adams who died, leaving Ms. Benson in a bit of a quandary. You can read the whole story in Melanie Rehak's "Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her."
Since starting to reread the "Cat Who" series, I have an appreciation of LJB's wonderful, wry sense of humor and irony. Perhaps they were there in the late books, and perhaps it has been too long since I read them, but this wryness seems new to me. I could very easily see her covering such things as reality TV and Occupy Wall Street.
If you want a dose of Reality TV in a novel much less humourous but nonetheless absorbing, I recommend Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" and its sequels.
Hey everyone,
As the months tick away, it is really hitting me that there will be no more LJB books. Rather than get sad, I am doing what many others of you do, reread the old books. I was reading The Cat Who Smelled a Rat and near the beginning of the book Qwill states that every winter the first snowfall of the season is "The Big One". Is this an editorial mistake much like the mistake of saying Melinda Goodwinter got Qwill to give up smoking when we all know Rosemary did that in one of the earlier books. Surely not every first snow is a blizzard in Moose County. I thought the "Big One" could happen all during the winter months. Iknow in "Shakespere" the Big One was the first snow of the year. how many books set in winter had "the Big One". I remember one in "Closet". How many winter books are there? On and Off was winter in the city. I will have to research this. Oh the joy of the little cat books!
Karen, you are right about Rosemary Whiting being the one who got Qwill to stop smoking his pipe. It seemed he used it as an affectation when he was having a conversation with a person of interest. He could stop and mess with his pipe to allow the other person time to gather their thoughts, without creating any uncomfortable silence. I also wonder about Melinda. The first time Qwill sees her, he thinks that she is plain looking. In the next couple of books, she gets prettier, especially her sparkling green eyes. Or perhaps beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I have been reading "Played Post Office" and realizing how pivotal it is to the series. I have been wanting to more on to "Knew Shakespeare" but for some reason, Amazon doesn't offer that one in the Kindle Edition. I admit, I'm spoiled with reading my backlit Kindle fire at night.
Yes, I agree Joyce, Post Office is an important little book in the series. Isn't this the book where Iris Cobb goes to the city council meeting with Qwill. That chapter is one of the funniest and most interesting chapters in all the books in all. It is so very well written and introduces so much about the little town of Pickax. I still remember after all these years, reading Post Office for the first time. I read them in mixed up order and was hungry for the book that tied "Brahams" where he gets the inheritence and the other books where he was well establised in Pickax. I still remember my delight standing in a used bookstore many years ago, called "The Book Rack" and finding it! I read it so fast then read it again. I love reading your insights into LJB's writing as you read through some of these older books.